It's a Marrvelous Life: End of School year, San Jose, Camping, Tahoe, Zoo, New Car

School's out! I found my name on the wall of teachers at the preschool on the last day. Everett's last day was a field day - they had a bounce house and lots of other games and activities.

Pictures from preschool

At Alicia's cousin Ryan's reception. Everett was not amused about getting his picture taken.

We traveled to San Jose for a couple weeks to help out while my dad and Aerin were touring Europe (graduation gift for Aerin). My mom watched the kids while Alicia and I snuck off to watch Solo.

As usual, the kids "helped" Brennen's morning nurse, Kevin. Peter's been going through a climbing phase, so he loved my parents' stools.

While my mom and Alicia went out to an empty-nester's luncheon, I took the kids over to the open hour at the local gymnastics center. They managed not to injure themselves, and had a lot of fun. Peter kept trying to jump into the foam pit, but all he could manage was to kick his legs out in front of him, land on his bum, then slide into the pit. It was hilarious.

Some videos of Peter:

Right after we got back from San Jose was the Stake Fathers and Sons campout. Adeline came along, too, as the "stowaway." We shared a tent with David. The campground was about 45 minutes south of Yerington, about two hours from our house. The land we camped on was part of a ranch. The mosquitoes were out in force. There were some huge bullfrogs and bullfrog tadpoles in the water. We went to bed around 10, and most of the camp was wide awake and running around screaming. David and I didn't have too much trouble falling asleep, and the kids did okay, too.

These pictures are of the kids running around with the older kids playing ultimate frisbee.

Family Reunion in Truckee/ Tahoe

We played outside- volleyball, badminton, croquet, mini-golf, bocce ball, corn hole, ladder golf, pickle ball, digging in sand...

We played inside - Splendor, 7 Wonders, Sushi-go Party, Dixit Journey, ping pong, pool, matching game, shoot the ball into the bears mouth, darts...

We ate delicious food, heavily outnumbered the local ward members at church, stopped a game of cousin kissing tag, roasted marshmallows for s'mores, relaxed in the hot tub, enjoyed outings to the pool and lake, watched a bit of the world cup, tolerated Brandon's dad jokes, and loved being together with family.

pic cred - Alicia G Perazzo

Calista Perazzo took family pictures

The whole family headed to the Tahoe beach on our last day. The water was cold, but still felt really nice. This beach stays pretty shallow for quite a ways. There was even a slightly raised sand bar towards the end of the pier, so you could walk all the way out there in the water. I spent the time standing in the water with Peter making sure the kids were okay, then collecting rocks with the older nieces. Most of the kids played a game of Red Rover. Everett reflecting on his time at the beach said, "I am going to tell you the funnest thing I did. I made mud."

pic cred - Alicia G Perazzo

That night we had a wild Karaoke/Lip Sync party. The kids and adults took turns belting out tunes. It was a great time. We left after the Karaoke to head home, and the kids were all asleep within minutes.

pic cred - Michael Perazzo

We've been looking around at cars for a while now. One of the cars we looked at was a 15 passenger van formerly used as daycare transportation. (pictured) When we first read the ad, I could not believe the car had 15 seats in it, but it did! The battery was dead and the seats didn't have car seat anchors, so it didn't quite work. We also looked at a car in Tahoe, but decided against that one. Following some advice from family, we went in pursuit of a minivan (Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna were the recommended vehicles). We found a Sienna we liked in Reno from a dealership we liked.

After we bought the car, we left it in Reno to get one last inspection. When we went back, we stopped by the Sierra Safari Zoo.

After all the fun with the animals, we went and picked up our car. Alicia and the kids went in the new van (with the AC) and I drove our old car over to Food Truck Friday at Idlewild park in Reno. It reminded me a lot of Pig out in the Park in Spokane, though not as big. We got to listen to a Jazz combo from the Navy while checking out different food trucks. The park is right on the bank of the Truckee river, and has two large ponds. We got some delicious Hawaiian barbeque. Everett rode the little train around the pond. He later took a scary tumble into that same pond while playing on the edge, and the water was over his head. A lady that was closer to him than we were jumped in to get him. We feel very fortunate that he is okay, and he'll start swim lessons in a few days.